Album reviews: Emmylou Harris/Rodney Crowell and Ray Charles

Published: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 08:25 PM.

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Known mainly for helping create and infuse soul music into the mainstream, Ray Charles was a fan of many types of music. Aside from cutting a country album (the largest selling of his career), Charles’ affinity for big band jazz was explored on 1961’s “Genius + Soul = Jazz.”

Featuring members of the Count Basie Orchestra and arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns, “Genius + Soul” features many more instrumental numbers than the stereotypical Ray Charles LP. Of the few vocal tracks on the album, the smoldering reading of Ray Alfred’s “I’ve Got News for You” is a highlight in Charles’ decorated career.

Charles sings the lines “you said before we met/your life was awful tame/well I took you to a nightclub/and the whole band knew your name” as if it had just happened to him a few minutes before.

“Moanin’” is one of the best examples of how blues and jazz seem built to be mixed with each other. Although one style begat the other, it’s refreshing to see them sewn together so seamlessly in this contest. The powerful swing of the Basie band is anchored by some of the nastiest Hammond organ work Charles ever committed to tape. The work of Hammond jazz great Jimmy Smith would be the closest approximation.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell have collaborated in many forms over the past three decades, but “Old Yellow Moon” marks the first time they’ve recorded as a duo.

The type of music Harris created with and without Crowell in the 1970s is currently being resold to the public as “Americana.” Since many types of music have germinated in America, the title seems a bit daft, but apparently, if your band features acoustic instruments and Salvation Army leisure wear, you’re in the club. Whether calculated or not, the pairing of Harris and Crowell has produced a great album in “Old Yellow Moon.”

Backed by other former collaborators, such as keyboardist Billy Payne of Little Feat and young upstart Vince Gill, Harris and Crowell sound comfortable and playful with each other. The duo’s reading of Roger Miller’s “Invitation to the Blues” oozes with the type of charisma the current crop of mainstream bands with $20 suits and $700 haircuts simply doesn’t have.

Although there aren’t any “tear in my beer” moments on “Old Yellow Moon,” there are several saccharine-free ballads of the highest order. The Rodney Crowell/James Slater tune “Open Season on My Heart” is given an earthy, straightforward treatment that exposes the power of the song and nothing more. Jubilant renderings of “Black Caffeine” and “Bluebird Wine” are the perfect counterweights to some of the album’s more somber material.

The other star of the show here is producer Brian Ahern. Instead of relying on computer trickery to manufacture a mood, it sounds as if Ahern actually knows how to record a band without losing the live ambiance. One would have to look to Rick Rubin’s work with Johnny Cash or the recent albums helmed by Buddy Miller to find a country music album executed with such reverence.

The slick garbage currently flowing out of Nashville sounds like an anemic poodle next to this Doberman of an album. “Old Yellow Moon” is the type of work that will bring back fans who jumped ship a long time ago and win over those who based their disdain of the genre on the work of impostors.

Classic album: Genius + Soul = Jazz

Artist: Ray Charles

Label: Impulse

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Known mainly for helping create and infuse soul music into the mainstream, Ray Charles was a fan of many types of music. Aside from cutting a country album (the largest selling of his career), Charles’ affinity for big band jazz was explored on 1961’s “Genius + Soul = Jazz.”

Featuring members of the Count Basie Orchestra and arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns, “Genius + Soul” features many more instrumental numbers than the stereotypical Ray Charles LP. Of the few vocal tracks on the album, the smoldering reading of Ray Alfred’s “I’ve Got News for You” is a highlight in Charles’ decorated career.

Charles sings the lines “you said before we met/your life was awful tame/well I took you to a nightclub/and the whole band knew your name” as if it had just happened to him a few minutes before.

“Moanin’” is one of the best examples of how blues and jazz seem built to be mixed with each other. Although one style begat the other, it’s refreshing to see them sewn together so seamlessly in this contest. The powerful swing of the Basie band is anchored by some of the nastiest Hammond organ work Charles ever committed to tape. The work of Hammond jazz great Jimmy Smith would be the closest approximation.

The hit on the album was an instrumental take on “One Mint Julep,” but vocal track “I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town” is the real gem of the collection. “Outskirts” is about as close to straight blues as Charles would usually get, but his masterful performance — vocally and instrumentally — proves he could have had a nice career as a blues man if he’d wanted to.

Charles even takes time to wrangle the Gershwin standard “Strike up the Band” into fluid blues/swing hybrid.

If the extent of your Ray Charles knowledge is “What’d I Say,” “Hit the Road Jack” and Diet Coke, “Genius + Soul = Jazz” will be a real ear opener.

Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com. Purchase books, music and term papers at jondawson.com.